Plant Maintenance Portal: Fluid Handling

Oct. 29, 2009
Plant Services' fluid handling portal helps you stay up-to-date with plant industry pumps, seals and valves.

PlantServices.com has assembled a list of fluid handling articles and put them in one place. Make sure you keep this page bookmarked and come back often — we're always updating!

Pumps

Pump purchasing 201
Not-so-common tips you should know before making a pump decision.

Pumping efficiently?
Inefficient pumps can increase maintenance as well as energy costs. Are you doing everything you can do to make sure your plant is running as efficiently as possible?

Pumps in peril?
Are your pumps running at their best efficiency point? Read here to learn how to put fluid handling systems on a course to best efficiency.

Understanding the economics of variable speed pumping
Static head in your pumping system is the key determinant of energy savings.

Pump energy savings with VFDs
Centrifugal pumps offer the greatest energy savings potential when less than 100% flow or pressure conditions are required. Read on to find out why.

Pump strategy is key to conserving energy
You should explore various flow pumping strategies that might be applied to new systems, as well as those that might be adaptable to existing hydronic systems.

Capture the big 3
Achieve energy efficiency, reliability and profitability by properly selecting and operating pumps.

Almost like free BTUs
Heat pumps can enhance your energy conservation efforts.

Pump energy savings with VFDs
Tests reveal the economics of applying variable-frequency drives in centrifugal pump systems.

Harnessing the flow
Don’t let control valves be a pumping system’s weakest link, advises Sheila Kennedy in this month's Technology Toolbox.

A beautiful model
How hydraulic modeling can improve the efficiency of your pump systems.

The FRETT approach
Some U.S. oil refineries repair their centrifugal pumps every three years while other refineries enjoy an average repair interval of 10 years.

Better than a gold mine
Using a geothermal heat pump is like pulling money out of the ground.

New plant learns pump tricks
New ethanol plants can improve production reliability, output and quality by reviewing and improving their controls.

What Works: Pump plant conserves water and chemicals
Reducing water usage is an essential ingredient of productivity and profitability, to conserve water and to reduce treatment and disposal costs.

Waterworks saves energy
Results from a continuing study by New York’s Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA) indicate that applying low-friction anti-corrosion coatings can restore pump efficiency to the manufacturer’s new-pump specifications.

Buoyancy and Bernoulli
These fundamental physical principles allow air lift pumps and eductors to move one fluid by using another.

Improve energy efficiency by restructuring your vacuum generators
In many applications, electric motor-driven vacuum pumps can achieve the same performance as vacuum generators while using one-fourth to one-tenth the energy.

Forces to be reckoned
Fluid power technology is producing hydraulic pumps and motors that are more compact, efficient and economical than ever before.

Get in your prime with pumps
The Hydraulic Institute (HI) offers its members — and other interested parties — an opportunity to earn recognition as a qualified pump system specialist by participating in the HI and U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Pumping System Assessment Tool (PSAT) Qualification Workshop.

Troubleshooting electro-hydraulic pumps: a 12-step program
A logical, reasoned approach to diagnosing production problems is a key to effective maintenance practices.

Continuous monitoring of sealess pumps, the next step
You can predict incipient failures in this class of fluid handling equipment.

Spinning into control
The revolution in high-speed pumps eliminates hardware and tracks processes closely.

Pump it up
Emerging technologies keep fluids in motion with lower maintenance and longer service lives.

Better products, higher production to fuel pump demand
Growth expected to outpace 1997-2002 figures.

Think about filtering your heat transfer fluids
It just might be the fastest way to increase efficiency and reduce maintenance and downtime.

Embrace the shutdown
There’s no better opportunity to improve the reliability of hydraulic systems.

Valves

Valves with a brain
Top-down technology reduces ownership costs and lets you control valves locally and and independently.

Valve wellness programs
To maximize the utility of diagnostic equipment used in chemical processing, technicians must stretch their knowledge of control valves and related diagnostic equipment that keeps tabs on valve health and safety.

Valves evolve
Contributing Editor Sheila Kennedy reports that advances in valve-control materials, design and construction improve performance, reduce costs and simplify maintenance.

Shut off and special duty valves
Compressed air valve selection is application-specific.

10 tenets for reliable valves
Most valves serve harsh lives, either from the fluids handled or the demands of service. Follow these 10 tenets when purchasing new or replacement control units.

Smart valve diagnostics: users guide
A review of the diagnostic capabilities of smart valve products on the market.

Ban the leaks
Choose a ball valve with leak-tight seals to curb fugitive emissions.

Rapid positioning and good control
Sheila Kennedy, contributing editor, explores the key attributes of high-performance valves.

Control valve diagnostics
Health monitoring leaves fewer reasons to live with stiction, wrong-sizing and excessive wear.

Control valve technology
It's an underappreciated factor in successful process automation initiatives.

Steam valve overhauled on-site
In this "What works" installment, a fast, in situ seat repair relies on a powerful, portable boring machine.

You don’t have to live with noisy valves
Valve cavitation can be predicted and reduced to an acceptable level through economical means.

Valve wars
Rising stem vs. rotary.

Harnessing the flow
Don’t let control valves be a pumping system’s weakest link, advises Sheila Kennedy in this month's Technology Toolbox.

To scrap or to fix: That is the question
When a valve shuts a process down, it’s too late to start looking for answers.

Resisting the static quo
When it comes to selecting the right valve for your application, you need to evaluate its dynamic rather than static characteristics.

What Works: Masonite gets MACT
Rotary-valve regenerative thermal oxidizer simplifies compliance.

Rethinking the purchase of valves and valve repairs
Doing so proves, once again, that the informed consumer is the best customer.

Why it’s time to move beyond inlet valve modulation for compressor control
The type of compressor capacity control you use and the related pressure settings you select are critical to your overall compressed air system efficiency.

Curb your valve cost
The initial purchase price represents only 20% of the valve’s total cradle-to-grave cost. Almost three-quarters of the total life cycle cost goes for maintenance, which represents a huge opportunity for cost reduction.

Fighting the particle wars
Slurry valve survival is a matter of creative designs, not simply modifications.

Seals

Avoiding premature seal failure
This five-step action plan can extend the lives of your seals.

Optimize shaft surface finish for maximum seal performance
A new study indicates shaft roughness and machine lead are not the only variables that must be monitored to ensure leak-free sealing.

New material for pneumatic seals
Polyurethane expands operating ranges and extends seal lives.

Seal manufacturers improving on reliability
Historically, mechanical seals were designed with very flat, parallel faces, and nearly a century passed before this basic principle saw any notable change.

Web Hunter: It’s a matter of geometry
The concentricity, flatness and perpendicularity that promote mechanical seal longevity are just a few of the factors under your control.

Helices and diamonds
Contributing editor Sheila Kennedy reports on new features that help mechanical seals last longer and handle tougher environments.

Seals: Make the right choice
Proper application of these principles can improve the life, dependability and operation of your process and mechanical machinery.

Diaphragm seal decisions
Contributing Editor Sheila Kennedy details smart ways to keep pressure at bay.

Short seal life problem pulverized
Cement plant cuts vertical roller mill downtime with bearing isolator.

Category I seals for API 682
They open some options for chemical plants and other seal users.

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